A.G. Gancarski
Tuesday night saw Duval County and NE Florida fall in line with the majority of voters across the country, and support Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton… with the exception of one county on the Democratic side that Felt The Bern.
In the GOP Primary, Trump had 47 percent with 194 of 199 precincts in, well ahead of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz at 27 and 18 percent respectively. Rubio won just four precincts with significant GOP concentration, three on the westside south of I-10. Cruz won some precincts with just a handful of Republicans. Turnout was robust throughout the GOP precincts, with just a handful below 40 percent. 54 percent turnout was the total on the GOP side.
On the Democratic side in Duval, Clinton bested Bernie Sanders 67 to 31 percent. Clinton won all but eight precincts. Sanders won three in the liberal Council District 14, and two at the Jacksonville Beaches. Turnout ranged from a low of 22 percent in District 2’s Precinct 204, to above 60 percent in some districts. The total Democratic turnout was much lower than the GOP side, at just 38 percent.
The outlying counties held to Duval’s trend. Though there is variance in the county by county numbers, the outcomes are essentially the same in NE Florida, with Clinton and Trump well ahead of the pack. The Clinton margins in the surrounding counters were 16 percent in St. Johns and Nassau, and 19 percent in Clay, a narrowing of the gap which speaks to a lighter concentration of African Americans in the suburban counties.
Trump got between 47 and 51 percent in Duval, Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns. Rubio was in the 26 to 27 percent range in Duval and St. Johns, and a few points lower in the more rural and traditionally conservative Nassau and Clay. Cruz ran behind him in all counties.
A major outlier to these trends: Baker County, to the west of Jacksonville.
Trump scored his biggest vote percentage there: 53 percent. Yet behind him in second was Cruz, at 24 percent, then Rubio at 19 percent.
The Baker Democratic race was a similar outlier. Sanders beat Clinton, 45 to 36 percent, with Martin O’Malley at 13 percent.
Matthew Isbell observed, regarding Baker’s results: “98 people (9% of dem side) showed up and left it blank! Conservative dixie region.”
